Apple-Pear Mini Crisps

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Do you ever find yourself with an empty fridge at mealtime? It usually happens to me on Sunday mornings, and, to tell the truth, I found myself facing these circumstances… again… this morning.

We try to make just one weekly trip to the grocery store, and by the end of the week pickings can get a little slim. Instead of giving up and going to wait an hour for brunch in the Third Ward, I imagine Ted is in my kitchen and I am on my own personal version of Chopped. What can I put to get together with what we’ve got?

Generally, we try to stay stocked up on the basics like flour, butter and sugar, and I managed to scrounge up an Asian Pear, apples, applesauce, and oats. These ingredients combined with my desire to use our neglected mini-cocottes lead to me make mini crisps! The pear definitely added juiciness, but I think the real MVP was the applesauce- I added just enough to cover the chopped fruit and the results were outstanding. Warm, gooey and delicious, they certainly earned Peter’s stamp of approval.

Even though I used mini cocottes, any kind of ramekin would do the trick and furthermore I think you could easily alter this recipe to make a large batch in a casserole dish. Other than that, I used a veggie peeler before roughly chopping the fruit. The best part of this recipe is how adaptable it is, so don’t worry too much about dishes or ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FILLING

1 large Asian pear

2 small apples

3 tbsp apple sauce

FOR THE TOPPING

1/8 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup instant oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tablespoon nutmeg

TO MAKE

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease cocottes.

Peel and chop Asian pear and apples. Place in mixing bowl.

Add apple sauce to chopped fruit, stir gently to coat.

Transfer fruit mixture to greased cocottes.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine butter, flour and sugar to form a crumbly mixture. Add spices and oats, then mix until combined.

Sprinkle oat mixture over the top of the fruit in the ramekins.

Bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes, or until the fruit is tender and oats are browned.

These crisps were excellent for brunch but would great with ice cream or creme anglaise for dessert!